Personal Photography 2.0
I have been considering solutions to the data overload problem that I mentioned in my last post. For now, I will hold off on dealing with paper documents and the issue of multiple online content repositories. Concerning digital images, however, here is an example of what I would consider a highly optimized system which could be created using current technology.
The image capture device itself need not be any different than current digital cameras except in a single essential and several optional aspects. The essential aspect is wireless data transfer capability. As soon as a picture is taken (and perhaps pending a 5-20 second waiting period to allow for deletion of images locally that are not wanted), it should be transferred wirelessly and automatically through the internet to either a personal computer or, perhaps preferably, to a hosted server or service. The latter would likely be better since a hosted service would have a higher percentage of uptime (unless the individual has a very stable machine running with a UPS and their ISP never goes down). Now even at this point, before any of the "magical", i.e. extremely helpful and cool, elements come into play, a great benefit has been realized. Viz.:
In addition to this, however, one can imagine many other potential features that could be added to the system. The camera could be fitted with additional sensors, or additional data could be associated with the images captured. Normally, digital cameras simply associate the time of the shot with the file created. But the temperature, say, or weather conditions, or altitude, could also be added as metadata. This would allow for a more coherent whole of the events captured to be constructed later. Of greatest assistance, I think, would be GPS-based location data for each image. This could be incorporated into the wireless data transfer system added to the camera. In this way, a real "trip" could be reconstructed from the images, via a mashup with Google Maps, for instance.
The final elements of this system would be performed by the user's computer or the hosted service, for performance reasons. The simplest step at this point would be to display the images captured in a web portal, associated and organized by their metadata, time, location, etc. In this fashion, one could make images from a vacation or outing available while still out on the trip! And that without having to download them to a laptop and have internet access on it at the time. Or if one wished the images to be kept private, one would minimally already have a photo album waiting upon returning from the trip.
The more complicated, but also more interesting, step now would be to analyze the images for content and provide them with appropriate names. This could utilize preferences set by the user concerning the naming, length, title versus tags, etc. Automated image recognition technology has not been deployed for individual use in many capacities as of yet, but this feature would provide for great strides in personal organization. Instead of sorting through hundreds of images and coming up with names for them such that they can be searched, imagine an automated process which would scan the images, find and assign likely tags or titles, and organize the images into albums divided by topic or by location!
I currently lack the skill to implement the steps of this process, but this entire system could be realized based on presently-existing commercial technology.
The image capture device itself need not be any different than current digital cameras except in a single essential and several optional aspects. The essential aspect is wireless data transfer capability. As soon as a picture is taken (and perhaps pending a 5-20 second waiting period to allow for deletion of images locally that are not wanted), it should be transferred wirelessly and automatically through the internet to either a personal computer or, perhaps preferably, to a hosted server or service. The latter would likely be better since a hosted service would have a higher percentage of uptime (unless the individual has a very stable machine running with a UPS and their ISP never goes down). Now even at this point, before any of the "magical", i.e. extremely helpful and cool, elements come into play, a great benefit has been realized. Viz.:
- If anything happens to the camera or memory stick while out, the data is preserved. From dropping a camera to the memory becoming corrupted, things can happen.
In addition to this, however, one can imagine many other potential features that could be added to the system. The camera could be fitted with additional sensors, or additional data could be associated with the images captured. Normally, digital cameras simply associate the time of the shot with the file created. But the temperature, say, or weather conditions, or altitude, could also be added as metadata. This would allow for a more coherent whole of the events captured to be constructed later. Of greatest assistance, I think, would be GPS-based location data for each image. This could be incorporated into the wireless data transfer system added to the camera. In this way, a real "trip" could be reconstructed from the images, via a mashup with Google Maps, for instance.
The final elements of this system would be performed by the user's computer or the hosted service, for performance reasons. The simplest step at this point would be to display the images captured in a web portal, associated and organized by their metadata, time, location, etc. In this fashion, one could make images from a vacation or outing available while still out on the trip! And that without having to download them to a laptop and have internet access on it at the time. Or if one wished the images to be kept private, one would minimally already have a photo album waiting upon returning from the trip.
The more complicated, but also more interesting, step now would be to analyze the images for content and provide them with appropriate names. This could utilize preferences set by the user concerning the naming, length, title versus tags, etc. Automated image recognition technology has not been deployed for individual use in many capacities as of yet, but this feature would provide for great strides in personal organization. Instead of sorting through hundreds of images and coming up with names for them such that they can be searched, imagine an automated process which would scan the images, find and assign likely tags or titles, and organize the images into albums divided by topic or by location!
I currently lack the skill to implement the steps of this process, but this entire system could be realized based on presently-existing commercial technology.
